
Fiction & Drama
Lisa Rookes on the inspiration behind The Gallows Tree
22/03/2023
A Londoner of Grenadian heritage, Pam graduated from St Martin’s School of Art in 1984 with a degree in Fashion, and spent the next two decades working in the industry as a journalist, Fashion Editor (at She, PS, Shape and Now magazines) and freelance stylist.
Whilst she’s currently a teacher at a special needs school, writing continues to be a constant in Pam’s life. She joined the Afrikan Heritage Writers group in 2014 and contributed poetry and prose pieces (which she performs) to the collective’s anthology 100 Years Unheard – WW1 and the Afrikan Diasporan Woman (2018).
Pam’s highly commended short story Soul Talking was published in the City of Stories (2017) compilation from Spread the Word; and she is an alumnus of the writer development agency’s London Writers Award (2019). She has since completed her debut novel A Trace of Sun and won the BlackInk New Writing Prize 2022 for her short story Hibiscus.
Pam’s work has the black experience at its heart with a focus on the importance of family and the need to belong – although always in unique ways.
Other than writing, the things that bring Pam the greatest joy are spending time with her son and granddaughter; holidaying with her husband, family and friends; and taking snaps that have turned her home into a gallery of memories.